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The current commander of the International Space Station initially designed a mission badge that paid homage to Klingons. Too bad that design didn’t fly.

Swanson, who currently is commander of the International Space Station, collaborated with his daughter to create an insignia for the outpost’s Expedition 40 crew. What he and his fellow astronauts and cosmonauts ultimately launched with to the space station was a patch depicting the “past, present, and future of human space exploration.”

What Swanson had first proposed however, was a badge of a decidedly different type.

“He wanted something that was kind of badass,” revealed Mary Swanson, Steve’s wife, in a call with collectSPACE, “and Klingons are kind of badass.”

Steve and Caroline Swanson’s original idea for the patch borrowed its shape and trifoil logo from a patch created for the Klingon Brotherhood, as seen on the 1990’s television series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”collectSPACE.